Vignette
by foggi
Summary: "missing scenes" from the episode "Sleeper," R+R please.
1. Walk Me Home

Vignette I

Rating: PG

Pairing: S/B usually comes through in the stories

Summary: 

Disclaimer: It's all Joss' even if he doesn't want to claim it...his creations, not mine :)

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"I'll help you," she said, her voice unreadable. She does that when she has something inside of her that she can't bear for you to read.

He closed his eyes tightly in response. 

Buffy sighed heavily; he was shaking. She grabbed his hands in hers, holding them as tightly as she could. Like she just couldn't stand to not be holding them...comforting him at this moment. 

"Spike," she whispered, "let's get out of here."

Those eyes. He looked at her like he had never been so lost. 

"You're touching me." His voice wavered more with every syllable. 

"I know. We need to leave," she replied patiently. 

He nodded. 

Buffy stood; one hand still holding his. And surprisingly, he didn't have any problem waling out of the house. 

It was cold outside, especially for Sunnydale. At least the streets were empty. Buffy held Spike's wrist as she walked just slightly in front of him...leader that she was. After a few minutes, she heard his quiet crying, but she couldn't turn and look at his face. The guilt would overtake her. She should have gotten him out of that basement a lot sooner. 

They finally arrived at the back porch. She sat him down on their personal "steps of misery."

"You okay?"

He looked at her and shook his head.

"Well, who would be?"

He sighed in response. 

"Listen, the gang is all inside...and I know that you probably don't want to see anyone right now...but it's too cold out here and you've had a long night."

"I...I don't think I can go in there...I'll just sit here."

"Spike."

"You know you don't want me in your home. We both know it."

She sighed. "I asked you didn't I?"

A small nod. 

"Honestly, Spike, I want you to come in. I'd feel a lot better knowing that this thing wasn't doing this to you anymore. You should get some sleep. You can't have been getting much at all recently..."

"I don't want to-"

She cut him off, "I know you don't want to be around everyone else, but I think this is-"

"No, I don't want to _hurt you_." A stare of sheer pain and love directly into her eyes. 

"You won't."

"You don't know-"

"You won't." 


	2. Afterthoughts

Vignette II

Rating: PG

Pairing: S/B usually comes through in the stories

Summary: Buffy thinks about Spike's situation, and her friend's reactions after the events of episode 7.8 "Sleeper." It takes place at the end of the final scene where everyone is sitting at the dining room table talking about the issue.

Disclaimer: It's all Joss' even if he doesn't want to claim it...his creations, not mine :)

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Of course Xander was angry. He never trusted Spike anyways...now was obviously not the time he would start. 

Anya seemed indifferent, more concerned with the treatment of Spike vs. her own treatment a few weeks earlier...

Willow seemed more concerned than angry. At least she didn't look like she wanted to stake him...

Then there was Dawn, who already had a bad week what with the ghostly and possibly evil visit of their mother...but it was always surprising to see her so angry at Spike of all people. They had been so close once, and Buffy couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. She just wished Dawn would get over it...would let him talk to her again...he would really love that. 

And there he was, just sitting there. Vacant. Like all the life...or unlife...had just been sucked out of him. 

__

Life he had just sucked the life and blood out of those victims...

But it wasn't him, she reminded herself.

And if it had been him? What would she have done?

As soon as he started attacking her, she should have been ready to stake him. Instead, she could barely hold onto the wooden object in her hand. Instead of being ready to kill him; she was ready only to save him. To tell him that this wasn't what he wanted to be doing. She had known it. Trusted. 

When the first evil came to them: Tara was Willow's, Joyce was Dawn's. The people that it knew would have the greatest emotional impact. 

Spike was Buffy's. The one that had the most power over her...the one that could break her more than anyone else. And as she looked at him, staring blankly at the wall, a world of suffering inside of him for something he didn't mean to do...she understood why. 


End file.
